Warning about AI cyber risks. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell met Tuesday with leaders of “systemically important” banks to warn about risks posed by Anthropic’s latest AI model and others like it, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. The Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the banks did not comment. The short-notice meeting came after Anthropic said it would not broadly release its latest model, Mythos, over concerns it could facilitate cyberattacks.
Brief truce in Ukraine. In observance of Orthodox Easter, Russia and Ukraine will maintain a thirty-two-hour ceasefire beginning at 4 p.m. local time Saturday, both countries announced separately. Peace talks remain paused due to the Iran war, though Russia’s envoy is in the United States for talks with Trump officials on economic issues, the Kremlin’s press secretary said today.
Xi meets with Taiwan’s opposition. Chinese President Xi Jinping called Taiwan’s unification with China an “inevitability” at a Beijing meeting today with Cheng Li-wun, the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party. Both officials described the visit—the first such meeting in a decade—as an effort to promote peaceful cross-strait relations. It comes ahead of Trump’s planned visit to China next month.
UK accuses Russia of sub spying. The United Kingdom (UK) detected Russian submarines surveilling undersea cables and pipelines in recent weeks and then deployed its own navy to signal to Moscow that the vessels had been exposed, Defense Secretary John Healey said yesterday. Russia’s embassy in London said Healey’s announcement was “impossible to either believe or verify.”
Venezuela’s mining law. The country’s legislature approved a new regulatory framework for mining backed by both acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the United States. It is designed to facilitate private investment through measures like simplifying the tax code, allowing independent arbitration of disputes, and banning top officials from holding mining titles. The law faces a constitutional review before being enacted. It follows a January law that liberalized the oil sector.
Falling U.S. births. The U.S. fertility rate continued its two-decade decline in 2025, falling around 1 percent from 2024, according to new federal data released yesterday. While economists have voiced concerns that fewer births and less immigration could have negative consequences for the economy, the U.S. population remains larger on the whole than the period when the country’s birth rate peaked.
U.S. diplomats in Iraq targeted. The State Department summoned the Iraqi ambassador yesterday to condemn attacks that it said were by Iran-aligned militias against U.S. diplomats and facilities, a department spokesperson said. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said earlier that militias had conducted drone attacks Wednesday near a diplomatic support center and Baghdad’s international airport.
New Philippine sea base. Manila opened a new coast guard base yesterday on a contested South China Sea island. Filipino civilians and forces have long been present on Thitu Island, which Beijing also claims. The base will be a “sentinel of our sovereignty,” Manila said. China did not immediately comment.
